You follow the team into the safehouse, the walls a deep grey of cement slabs creating a shelter for the team. Walking in is an open area connecting on with a small kitchen towards the back, its lit well with the natural sunlight.
Down past the kitchen is a wide hallway, two glass doors at the back and wooden doors lining each side. You drag your duffle bag down the hall, following Ghost into a room and watching as he throws his bag onto a stretcher like bed.
The others do the same and your quick to copy, claiming one between Soap and Ghost. The beds look uncomfortable even from glance, but you appreciate that at least on this mission you get a bed.
You let out a slow huff, hands on hips as you look around. You grin at Soap who's returning smile is always warm, "Ready for tomorrow?" he asks, letting out a tired sigh as he lies down on his bed with an uncomfortable wince.
The others slowly pile out of the room, few lingering as they unpack their bags. You give him a nod, sitting down on the edge of your bed facing him as he lifts his hands behind his head. "We'll be fine, just a quick in and out mission." he says.
You give him another nod and smile, sighing as you flop onto your back with spread arms. The thin blankets are cool underneath you as you look up at the plain ceiling, your eyes close as you focus in on the chirps of birds from outside.
"Everything alright rookie?" Soaps voice cuts through the peace with a pat on your thigh. You give him an upbeat hum in reply, sitting back up on the edge of the bed seeing him in the same position.
"You still look tired Soap." you point out taking note of the dark bags under his eyes, he shrugs with a breathy chuckle.
"I'm not, I just wake up looking tired, they'll disappear some point." he reassures you, checking the watch on his wrist. He lets out a small exhale from his nose, leaning back and supporting himself with his arms as he smiles. "Something on your mind?- you look worried rook."
"No no, I'm okay." you say with another small smile that's quick to fade, "I've just got mission jitters, that's all." you shrug, resting your elbows on your knees as you sit your chin in your hand, looking across the small gap at him.
"Mission jitters." he repeats, "Didn't take you for the nervous type rook." he laughs.
"Well, I just been feeling a little on edge but nothing that bad." you say with a careless shrug, eyes drifting down to the floor as you study the cracks between the slabs.
"Is there a reason why?" he asks, tilting his head to the side slightly, an unintentional move that happens to make your eyes flick up to him. His posture is relaxed, sitting on the edge of the bed, thighs parted as he leans back on his arms.
The shirt he wears, the light from the window, how his muscles tense and fit the short sleeves of his shirt like a glove. There's something about his messy mohawk that adds to the ambience of attraction, like an open hug that lures you and yet he doesn't seem to notice.
How his blue eyes are bright against his skin tone, rimmed with dark lashes. You hate the way he tilts his head, for reasons that aren't fair to him. You sit up a little, swallowing as you shake your head. "Not anything that's important." you mutter.
"You're lying to me." he says, breaking into a grin that tests your own serious expression. You shake your head, trying not to smile, another thing to hate, how everyone's smiles are so contagious on this team.
"Nuh uh." you say, narrowing your eyes as he copies, sitting up a little more as he leans closer, maybe in some attempt to intimidate you but the action comes across as friendly play.
"I'm not doing that with you rook, I've seen Ghost get trapped in that cycle before." he says, dropping his voice to a husk as he holds back a twitching smile at the challenging glint in your eyes.
"What cycle?" you ask, letting your voice take a more naive tone that he smiles at, holding your eyes with a steady gaze.
"The whole, 'nuh uh' - 'yuh huh' cycle." he says while you work hard to keep your expression confused but mutual, playing the part as if this was some professional theater act.
"Nuh uhh.." you say slowly as his face drops, he looks at you with a dead serious and unimpressed look that you can't help but smile at.
"Oh, c'mon rookie." he says with a defeated tone, leaning back again. "I can tell your lying to me, you won't look into my eyes when asking." he says, raising an eyebrow as if he's already won.
"That has nothing to do with it." you scowl.
"You also get defensive." he adds with a halfhearted shrug. You glare at him as he smiles, knowing Ghost had picked up on your tactics as well. "Besides, people with adhd tend to avoid eye contact with they think they're in trouble or in the wrong."
You press your lips into a thin line, flicking your eyes around the room before landing back on him. "Fine, just been having some ..odd experiences the past few days." you mutter, watching as his eyes flick between yours.
"Like?"
"Well, there's this soldier, our first encounter was a while ago, not encounter exactly but he was staring at me and trying to get a glimpse of my paperwork at the time, then when I was leaving, he was also staring." you explain, wondering. if you sound crazy.
"Maybe it's just a simple crush rookie, you're a big girl now on a big team." he says with a playful grin, his voice light and humorous.
"Soap." you say with forced annoyance, easily deciphered by your smile. "I'm being serious here, it's not that, I can just tell." you say, thinking back to all the run ins or where you'd find him staring, the strange events.
"Okay okay, I'll be serious now, whys it different?" he asks, his tone dropping to a more understanding tone to comfort you.
"Well, it's just this itch that feels like I'm being watched, but not exactly like that, he's just always around somewhere, across the courtyard, in the back of a crowd, around base - and I know everyone is around base but he's always just there." you say, shivering at the thought.
"I don't see him leave, or appear, then when I'm alone something weird is bound to happen, hearing noises or seeing someone- I sound crazy." you say, stopping abruptly as you look up at Soap.
He chuckles and shakes his head, "No rookie, you don't, with everything that has been happening its concerning." he says, his eyebrows furrowing in genuine thought. "In fact, do you know anything about him? describe him for me yeah?"
"I don't know, he's sometimes with people but never the same group and he doesn't talk, I don't know his name, or what his rank is, he's got black hair, stringy like and dark eyes and he looks oddly drained, very skinny and pale." you say.
Soap frowns for a moment before letting out a slow release of air from his nose, "We should let skipper know, then maybe he can check through files, seems like odd behavior." he says as you both sit in silence for a moment.
"Try relax rookie." he chuckles taking a look at the poorly hidden concern on your face, "C'mon, we should get going." he says, standing up and allowing himself to stretch as you groan and flop back down on your back.
You hear him laugh, grabbing your hand and pulling you up as you make no other efforts to stop him.
***
That night you were tossing and turning on the bed, the thin mattress felt more like springs and the itchy blankets did nothing in your favor. The heat was unbearable, blanket or no blanket, it didn't make a difference.
The rusty metal frame would squeak with each tiny movement, and you had been told to 'stop moving' in less polite ways earlier on into the night. Now it was 1am and you were sure everyone was asleep apart from you.
You were easily agitated by the inconvenience of the bed but tried your best to keep quiet, at this point to floor was a better option over the springs digging into you. You lay on your back, your eyes having been adjusted to the dark.
You raised your hands, turning them over in the dark as you tried your best to distract yourself away from the uncomfortable situation. Even with the proper technique you had learnt in training, sleep did not come.
You traced a finger over your knuckles, letting out a soft sigh that was close to silent. You heard creaking from beside you and automatically you waited for the 'rookie shut up' once again but none came, instead a hand grabbed yours from the air.
You looked at Soap, seeming rather awake and standing beside your bed as he silently looked around then back at you, tugging you in a way that indicated you to get up. You got up as quietly as you could, looking at him as he smiled.
You returned the smile with confusion etched in your brows but followed him nonetheless, the floors cold under your socks despite the heat in the safehouse. He pushed open the doors at the end of the hall that faced out into an open wide field.
Trimmed grass encased within surrounding trees that led into forest. You jogged after him after closing the doors, hoping through the grass till you caught up to him. "I'm sorry if I woke you." you say, falling into step.
"You didn't, it's hard to sleep in places like these, I used to struggle with it but it's better, although there is the odd time." he says, sitting down as you follow him, planting yourself beside him looking at the midnight blue sky.
A rustling from Soap catches your attention and you watch his hands move for a second before he passes you something, you take it, turning it over in your palm as your eyes settle on the blunt. "Packed a little much, no?" you say, bringing it to your lips.
He shrugs, flipping his lighter and holding the flame to the very tip. "Good for sleep, no harm every once n a while." You inhale the familiar smoke that burns the first time round, hitting the back of your throat as you hold it in your lungs.
You pass it back to him with a nod, holding it a few more seconds before exhaling slowly, watching the wispy smoke fade into nothing but more night air. You both pass it back and forth between each other, silence comfortable.
The air feels cooler outside, and the moon is pretty to look at, drawing the attention of your eyes with each passing minute and each intake of the heavily packed blunt. The effects only happening slyly, not enough to be major.
You engage in small talk with Soap, chatting on about base or the mission, words being exchanged while your body becomes lighter, like being set free from the chain and ball that dragged along behind you.
A body made of lead turning into cotton, "Do you do this all the time?" you ask.
"No, after the mission at yours, when we had smoked, I'd slept better than ever so, confided in it months back one night when I couldn't sleep and it worked so, I carry an ounce or several sometimes." he chuckles, passing the roll back over.
"Hope I haven't corrupted you." you say with a smile, looking across at him as smoke escapes your lips.
"Ah, out of everything you could corrupt me with Rook, weed ain't on the list till at least 57." he laughs, taking the blunt from your fingers. You hum, amused turning back to face the moon directly in view down the field.
Your head turns around at the approaching footsteps, coughing on the smoke as you see them already behind you. "Johnny." Ghosts voice rings out, occupying the silence for the second. "Rookie." he adds, sitting down.
He plucks the blunt from your lips as you stare at him, he brings it to his own lips. "Lt." Soap says, greeting him with a smile. "Didn't think you were up." he says.
Ghost hums, holding the smoke before blowing out. "You didn't even check Johnny boy." he chuckles, passing the blunt back over. You know you shouldn't be so surprised by the casual atmosphere between them by now.
It seems like a natural occurrence between them. Ghost's eyes look away from Soap and drop to yours, only now realizing you hadn't exactly looked away from him till he'd sat down. He smiles, mixed with an airy chuckle.
His balaclava rolled up as he ducks his head to your level, "Not to high are we now rookie?" he says, a breezy tone to his voice as his arm reaches past you to take the blunt from Soap. You shake your head, mustering a smile as you ignore the effects of the weed.
He hums in reply, a hand on your jaw as his thumb gently parts your lips and he places the blunt between them. You grin in response, taking a drag and handing it over to Ghost as Soap talks with him.
You feel a hold on your waist before your lifted, Ghost shuffling across to where you sat beside Soap moments ago, you scowl at first thinking he's taken your place before he sits you down in his lap.
He's mid-sentence replying to Soap, not noticing your look as he explains something while Soap nods, smoke taking his inability to speak. He passes the blunt to you, unbothered by you and Ghost his eyes red even in the dark.
He lies back slowly, hands on stomach as you and Ghost continue to share the blunt, chatting between you three. "Don't fall asleep out here Johnny, head inside yeah?" Ghost says with a deep chuckle at Soaps closed eyes.
"Smart as ever LT." Soap says with a smile, getting himself up with a few grunts, heading back. "Don't stay out to late kids." he calls back, you smile over Ghosts shoulder, waving a final goodbye as you watch him head back inside.